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Project Inspire|Interview w/ Chelsea R. H.

Hello and welcome, my friends! I’m super excited for today’s post, because I’m interviewing my friend, Chelsea, for Project Inspire. She blogs at An Ordinary Pen; don’t forget to go check out her website!

If you haven’t heard about the mission/blog tag I started, you can check it out here. Basically, it’s a tag to spread inspiration, motivation, and appreciation for the people that have been influential in our writing lives. šŸ™‚

I’m going to be asking Chelsea questions all about inspiration, motivation, and other things related those subjects. I’ll be in bold, while she will be in italics. 

So, without further ado…


First, tell us a bit about yourself, Chelsea. šŸ˜‰

First of all, thank you so much for inviting me to your blog, Jen! I really appreciate it šŸ˜€

Hello! Iā€™m Chelsea R.H., Iā€™m an eighteen year old novelist and blogger from the fair land of Australia. I have many fascinations and hobbies, including, but definitely not limited to, musicals, dancing (Highland and Tap, in case you were wondering), calligraphy, reading (of course), history, knitting, sewing, and hiking. I love spending time in the great outdoors, and I enjoy not going to parties šŸ˜‰
01. How/where do you find the most inspiration to create?

I know itā€™s a cliche to say it, but I find inspiration everywhere. However, if Iā€™m only going to pick a few things that inspire me, I would say that settings inspire me the most, followed by books, movies, and Pinterest. A lot of the time, interview questions will ask whether my personal process involves plot or characters first, but almost always Iā€™m inspired by a setting. Sometimes the setting will be a place where Iā€™ve been, other times it will be a picture in an atlas, or on Pinterest, but they almost always manage to inspire me.

And then, of course, thereā€™s books and movies. I actually take less inspiration from these than I used to, but sometimes a small plot twist in a favourite novel, or a turn of phrase or character from a movie or TV show will inspire something in my own novels.

And Pinterestā€¦need I say more?

 

02. What’s your favorite inspirational Bible verse or quote?

This is a really hard one! Thereā€™s a lot of really great Bible versesā€¦

Well, I really like Chapter 35 of Isaiah. Itā€™s too long to put in here, but itā€™s a great chapter full of hope and beautiful imagery. I love the sound of ā€œthe desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocusā€ and ā€œthe burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of waterā€. Itā€™s just beautiful.

 

03. Who’s been really influential in your writing, and never given up on you?

My whole family really. I think they roll their eyes at me sometimes and itā€™s probably a good thing theyā€™ll never (hopefully) see my search terms, but theyā€™ve never given up on me (my sanity maybe, but never me).

 

04. What do you do when you’re feeling down and uninspired to get motivated again?

Ideally, Iā€™d love to be able to go hiking in the wilderness every time I felt unmotivated, but since that isnā€™t possible, I tend to take a break and read a book, or glower at the computer screen, or look through a book of pretty landscapes.

 

05. When youā€™re battling through the middle of your book, what do you do to stay motivated?

Think about all the wonderful things Iā€™ll buy (like chocolate!) as soon as Iā€™ve finished. Reread my favourite scenes. Reread my outline and pick out the bits that Iā€™ll really enjoy writing and motivate myself to get to them. Listen to one of my many soundtracks to give myself a boost.

 

06. What’re 5 big things you’ve learned about writing over the years?

  1. There is always going to be someone whoā€™s a better writer than you, and thatā€™s completely okay.
  2. Not everything you write should be for public eyes, some of it should be treasured by you only
  3. Donā€™t write flat villains.
  4. Study character arcs
  5. Learn how to outline. Even if you never use your outlining skills, I still think itā€™s valuable to learn the structure of story and outlining is a great way to do that.

 

07. Is there a book/author that has inspired you to write better and craft stronger stories?

Every book I read inspires me in some way or another. Sometimes, itā€™s by making me so angry that I know I just have to write better books than this one. Sometimes its by inspiring me to write as story as good as this one.

But if I have to answer this directly, Iā€™ll say J.R.R.Tolkien.

 

09. What advice do you have for other young writers?

Practice doesnā€™t make perfect, but it definitely does make better. Just keep writing, keep trying, keep improving your craft, keep surrendering yourself to Godā€™s will. Youā€™ll get better šŸ˜€

 

10. Anything else to add? {about inspiration, motivation, appreciation, etc.}

When you dedicate your life to writing, take extra special care of your physical health. Itā€™s very important, even you donā€™t realise it just yet. Take a dance class, or go to the gym, go hiking, anything to keep your body healthy.

And hey, maybe youā€™ll find some inspiration while taking your exercise as well šŸ˜€

 

Thank you so much for having me, Jen!

 


And thanks so so much for agreeing to let me interview you, Chelsea! It really was a lot of fun and such a pleasure. šŸ˜€

Until next time…

 

Write on,

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9 Comments

  • Reply Cassia

    This was a fun post Jenna!

    March 9, 2019 at 7:39 am
    • Reply Jenna

      Thank you, Iā€™m glad you liked it! šŸ˜

      March 9, 2019 at 9:43 am
  • Reply kassieangle

    Project Inspire is such a neat thing youā€™re doing, Jenna! Hey Chelsea! *waves* Nice to get to know you better!!

    March 9, 2019 at 9:25 am
    • Reply Jenna

      Thanks! I plan on doing more posts and such for it in the future. šŸ˜‰

      March 9, 2019 at 9:43 am
  • Reply Nicole Dust

    This was so cool, and Project Inspire is such an awesome idea! šŸ™‚

    March 9, 2019 at 2:42 pm
    • Reply Jenna

      Thank you! I really enjoyed interviewing Chelsea. šŸ˜Š

      March 9, 2019 at 3:52 pm
  • Reply Merie Shen

    This was a fun interview! Project Inspire was a really inspired project, Jenna! xD

    March 10, 2019 at 12:35 am
    • Reply Jenna

      It was fun to do! šŸ˜Thank you!

      March 10, 2019 at 1:10 am
  • Reply Jenna Terese - Project Inspire|Interview w/ Jane Maree | Jenna Terese

    […] I am super excited for today’s post! It’s the second interview of an inspiring blogger/writer forĀ Project Inspire. To check out the first P.I. interview with Chelsea R. H., just clickĀ HERE. […]

    March 30, 2019 at 6:02 am
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